Manage process for re-engagement. Create a automatically managed group of leads in your CRM colder than 90 days and remind them who you are. Nobody minds being pinged once a quarter, and one time in the future they may be ready to buy.

6. Standardize your lead definition

Leads aren’t an end in themselves, just one step in the journey to a sale. Make sure everyone uses the same definition.

7. Content marketing and social are intertwined

Create a joint strategy – content is your “product”, social is your “channel”.

8. Story is King

Don’t preach or instruct. Engage the imagination with a story.

9. Remember Facebook even for B2B

Your B2B clients may be B2C themselves and present. Even if not, connecting in a personal sphere deepens the relationship.

10. Carve out set time for social every day

Use this to develop all the channels you are active on. Make it a regular habit, but time-box this to manage the personal ROI on this.

11. Always connect on LinkedIn to your clients

They move on to other prospects, and it’s likely many of their contacts could be contacts for you.

12. A/B test all your programs

Fine tuning is everything. How do you know if your market prefers to be called clients or customers? This is not just for websites, it’s for newsletters, call scripts, everything.

13. Speak the same language

Waiters who use exactly the same language when repeating back an order get more tips than those that don’t. Discover, understand, and use the same terminology your market and even client use. If they call “cars”, “autos” then so do you. And whatever you do, don’t speak a foreign language – no vendor buzzwords.

14. Frequently use the prospect’s name

The’re only human.

15. Voicemail Etiquette

15 seconds or less (this is why it’s point 15!)

Practice, practice, practice, practice

Repeat the callback number twice – no one wants to replay

16. Structure your cold intro

In person, over the phone, by email:

Who you are

Why this is of interest to them

What you would like them to do

Always use a script.

17. Get it Up

“People will be convinced more by the strength of your passion than the clarity of your message”.

18, Research your prospect

Find out what they like and common areas of interest to break the ice.

19. FAQ your common objections

Practice your responses off-pat. Write them down and put them up above your desk.

20. Segment your market

Don’t start at “A” in the phone book. Start with “Engineering Shops” and focus on a category. You tune your story and get a higher success rate. If the segment doesn’t work for you, then you know to avoid. You create your own verticals based on domain expertise.

21. Qualify the prospect

Always ask “Who is the person in your organisation who normally signs off on these sort of things?”

22. You’re a machine

At least for the couple of hours you are cold calling. Rejection doesn’t mean anything. There is no such thing as a bad sales call.

23. Never give price before value

Always build the case first.

24. Find prospects on LinkedIn with Advanced People Search

Target the following 4 fields

company size

segment

job title

geo

25. Don’t rush it

On social media your goal is only to connect. Selling comes later. Softly, softly catch the monkey..

Tim is a co-founder of SalesSeek, with particular focus on product specification and marketing. Tim’s background includes most aspects of the software business and companies ranging in size from IBM to startups in the UK, Japan and the US.